iwatkins
24th of February 2004 (Tue), 10:29
Hi All,
Went to Focus 2004 at the NEC in Birmingham, UK, this morning, bit like a mini-PMA.
Canon:
Nothing we haven't heard about already, played with a 1D Mk2, very nice indeed.
Sigma:
Nothing really new here but they did have their full range of lenses there. So I spent a while playing with their new image stablised lens (very nice) and also some of their longer primes (monsters).
Epson:
P-1000 photoviewer/digital wallet thingy. Version 1 has the very nice screen but sucks big time as it only has USB 1.1 and is hence slow. Actually spoke to the Product Manager himself and he agreed that USB 1.1 was the wrong decision. I suggested a couple things to him and he told me they are already working on all these things and a version 2 should be available later in the year. He suggested that the screen would be improved more in brightness but also more power efficient. He also agreed 10Gb storage was too small and 20Gb minimum for version 2. The big one though was that he suggested a USB 2.0 and a Firewire port would be available. I suggested that it should also have less emphasis on printing direct to Epsons printers and should support all the direct print standards, he said he would look into this. In addition he did voluntear the information that they will be aiming more products including this one at the pro/prosumer market rather than just consumer.
Lyson:
Quad black catridges have been available for Canon printers for a while but they are working on a continous ink system for Quad blacks and should be available this year. Good news for those who like to print a lot of B&W and don't have an Epson printer.
General Stuff:
Lots of nice, easy to use lighting systems being introduced from all makers both hot and cold.
Saw the Nova system for table top studios that uses flourescent tubes for continous lighting but isn't hot and is daylight balanced. Wonderful light from this and no need to use flash to hand hold for table top shots. They also do full size continous studio lights using tubes, i.e. a hot system that isn't hot :)
There was the usual scrum around Canon and Nikon stands but otherwise not too busy today.
Cheers
Ian
Went to Focus 2004 at the NEC in Birmingham, UK, this morning, bit like a mini-PMA.
Canon:
Nothing we haven't heard about already, played with a 1D Mk2, very nice indeed.
Sigma:
Nothing really new here but they did have their full range of lenses there. So I spent a while playing with their new image stablised lens (very nice) and also some of their longer primes (monsters).
Epson:
P-1000 photoviewer/digital wallet thingy. Version 1 has the very nice screen but sucks big time as it only has USB 1.1 and is hence slow. Actually spoke to the Product Manager himself and he agreed that USB 1.1 was the wrong decision. I suggested a couple things to him and he told me they are already working on all these things and a version 2 should be available later in the year. He suggested that the screen would be improved more in brightness but also more power efficient. He also agreed 10Gb storage was too small and 20Gb minimum for version 2. The big one though was that he suggested a USB 2.0 and a Firewire port would be available. I suggested that it should also have less emphasis on printing direct to Epsons printers and should support all the direct print standards, he said he would look into this. In addition he did voluntear the information that they will be aiming more products including this one at the pro/prosumer market rather than just consumer.
Lyson:
Quad black catridges have been available for Canon printers for a while but they are working on a continous ink system for Quad blacks and should be available this year. Good news for those who like to print a lot of B&W and don't have an Epson printer.
General Stuff:
Lots of nice, easy to use lighting systems being introduced from all makers both hot and cold.
Saw the Nova system for table top studios that uses flourescent tubes for continous lighting but isn't hot and is daylight balanced. Wonderful light from this and no need to use flash to hand hold for table top shots. They also do full size continous studio lights using tubes, i.e. a hot system that isn't hot :)
There was the usual scrum around Canon and Nikon stands but otherwise not too busy today.
Cheers
Ian